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It’s a STASI World by Jeff Berwick

The first attempts, PIPA (Protect IP Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) were cast aside by the hundreds of millions of internet aware youth. But the attacks continue on. In Arizona just as we went to press, they rushed to push another internet censorship law under the guise of an anti-bullying campaign under the name Arizona House Bill 2549. The law would mean that anything communicated or published online that was deemed to be “offensive” by the state, including editorials, illustrations, and even satire could be criminally punished.

The bill is sweepingly broad, and would make it a crime to communicate via electronic means speech that is intended to ‘annoy,’ ‘offend,’ ‘harass’ or ‘terrify,’ as well as certain sexual speech. Because the bill is not limited to one-to-one communications, H.B. 2549 would apply to the Internet as a whole, thus criminalizing all manner of writing, cartoons, and other protected material the state finds offensive or annoying.